Payment processing system for a prepaid card

ABSTRACT

A network service operates to initialize and link a card instrument to a merchant or merchant location, so that the merchant can receive funds the service. One or more requests are detected to use the card instrument for one or more transactions, where each transaction involves a corresponding customer who has registered a customer funding account with the network service. For each of the transactions, a merchant account is funded using a funding account of the card instrument.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/193,590, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/956,691; the aforementioned applications beinghereby incorporated by reference in their respective entirety.

BACKGROUND

Individuals and businesses are increasingly turning to prepaid cards asa reliable means to enable cardholders to make electronic and in-personpurchases without the inconvenience of cash or the risk of credit.Prepaid cards broadly fall into two categories: “closed loop” cards thatare tied to a particular merchant (Sears™, Starbucks™, etc.) for loyaltyor incentive purposes, and “open loop” cards that are branded with thelogo of a major network (Visa™, MasterCard™, Discover™, etc.) and usableat any merchant that accepts that logo.

The most notable form of prepaid card—for both open and closed-loopcards—is the “gift card”. A gift card is a consumer product where oneindividual “loads” funds onto the card and then gives the card tosomeone as a gift. The recipient then uses this card in lieu of cash toeither purchase from a given merchant (in the case of a closed-loopcard), or anywhere the card's logo is accepted (open-loop card).

Another form of prepaid card is the “expense card”—typically anopen-loop card—where an employer loads funds onto the prepaid card anddistributes to employees to make business purchases.

Additional forms exist for remittance purposes (a family member in onecountry loads funds onto the card to be spent by the family in anothercountry), payroll services (the paycheck of an employee is loaded ontothe prepaid card instead of going to a bank account), and so on.

Unlike a “credit card”, where each purchase draws from a line of creditassociated with the card, every purchase authorized by a prepaid card issupported by funds that have been secured by the card's issuer beforethe purchase is authorized. As such, the risk of non-payment experiencedby issuers of credit cards is almost completely avoided by issuers ofprepaid cards.

But this safety advantage to prepaid card issuers creates acorresponding disadvantage for prepaid card customers. Specifically, thecustomer purchasing the prepaid card must “load” funds onto the cardbefore it can be used. Unlike a credit card which can be used topurchase up to a certain limit with the understanding that it will belater repaid, the prepaid card can only be used when funds are loadedonto the card in advance.

This disadvantage is further compounded by the simple fact that thecustomer of the prepaid card generally does not know at the time fundsare loaded on the card, exactly what will be purchased. Accordingly, thecustomer must typically load onto the card the maximum amount that couldconceivably be used, even if that means putting more funds onto the cardthan will actually be used.

Similarly, a disadvantage of the prepaid model is funds are typicallyloaded onto the card days, weeks, or months prior to any purchaseactually occurring. During this period, those same funds cannot be usedfor any other purchase, cannot be used for investment purposes, cannotbe used to pay off debt, etc.

The largest disadvantage of the prepaid model is after a purchase isactually made, there are generally funds left on the card. These fundsare often insufficient for any significant purchase, and thus areignored and never actually spent. Unspent funds on prepaid cards areclassified as “abandoned” after some period of inactivity (or expirationof the card), and often default to the card issuer or the state—butrarely to the customer who purchased the card or the person who holdsit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a payment processing system for implementinguniversal prepaid cards which reside at merchant locations for use byauthorized users, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a sequence diagram for implementing a paymentprocessing system, in accordance with one or more examples.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for providing a universal prepaid card to aset of merchants, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for first time use of a universal prepaidcard, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for implementing a service for providing auniversal prepaid card, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6A through FIG. 6E illustrate alternative graphic user interfacesfor use by users of a payment processing system, such as provided withan example of FIG. 1.

FIG. 7A through FIG. 7D illustrate examples of graphic user interfaceswhich can be displayed to a customer through a customer serviceapplication of a payment processing system, such as described with anexample of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system upon whichexamples described herein may be implemented.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram that illustrates a mobile computing deviceupon which examples described herein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples described herein include a payment processing system or servicefor enabling merchants to control a payment mechanism which can beindependently shared by multiple customers. According to someembodiments, a payment processing system links a merchant or merchantlocation to a payment instrument that is under the control of themerchant and available to at least a class of merchant customers.

In some embodiments, an example of a payment instrument is provided by asingle-account card instrument, which can be of a prepaid debit cardtype. A prepaid card instrument which is controlled by the merchant andmade available to one or more multiple merchant customers is termedherein as a “universal prepaid card” (or alternatively as “UPPC”).

As described with numerous examples, a merchant can maintain a universalprepaid card (or universal prepaid card account) at a merchant location,and a payment processing system such as described can provide funds forthe universal prepaid card in advance, or on an as-needed basis. Amongother benefits, this enables the universal prepaid card to be used bymultiple customers, with added security measures which are not presentwith conventional financial card instruments.

According to an embodiment, a card instrument is initialized to beactive at a given merchant location. The card instrument being linked toreceive funds from a shared fund account. A network service mayauthorize the card instrument for use with multiple transactions whichoccur over a given duration, each transaction being for any one of agroup of customers who have each registered a customer funding accountwith the network service. The shared fund account of the card instrumentcan be separately maintained in order to individually fund each of themultiple transactions that occur in a given duration.

According to one aspect, a universal prepaid card is made available foruse at the merchant location. The universal prepaid card may be providedto physically reside at the merchant location. The universal prepaidcard can be linked to the merchant location and made available for useby merchant customers who are also users of a service for the universalprepaid card. A universal prepaid card can be linked to a shared fundingsource that enables the authorized merchant customers to use the prepaidcard for their respective transaction. In this regard, the universalprepaid card is without association to a specific customer, but rathermade available for a class of customers (e.g., those who are users of aservice accompanying the universal prepaid card).

In some examples, a network service can be implemented by a combinationof servers or computers which communicate with mobile computing devicesof customers, as well as with designated merchant resources (e.g.,merchant owned mobile computing device or merchant computer station,point-of-sale device, telephone, etc.). In some implementations, theservice can be distributed, using programmatic components or logic oncustomer and/or merchant devices.

According to some examples, a system and method are provided forimplementing a network based service. In an example, the network serviceoperates to initialize and link a card instrument to a merchant ormerchant location, so that the merchant can receive funds the service.Over a given duration, one or more requests are detected to use the cardinstrument for one or more transactions, where each transaction involvesa corresponding customer who has registered a customer funding accountwith the network service. For each of the transactions, a merchantaccount is funded using the card instrument. In funding the merchantaccount for each transaction, (i) a funding account for the cardinstrument is identified for at least that transaction, (ii) sufficientfunds for the transaction are provided in the funding account of thecard instrument, and (iii) the network service detects when cardinstrument is processed by the merchant or at the merchant location totransfer funds from the funding account to a corresponding merchantaccount. Additionally, for each of the one or more transactions, fundsare obtained from the registered customer account of the correspondingcustomer involved in that transaction.

According to one aspect, the service can detect a customer action thatindicates the customer's intent or desire to use a universal prepaidcard at a particular merchant location. The service may provide a sharedfunding source that is associated or linked with the universal prepaidcard, and the merchant may process the universal prepaid card (e.g., asa conventional credit card) to obtain funds for the transaction.Subsequently, the service can communicate with the customer to obtainapproval of the transaction, as well as authorization for surcharge ortip. The service can then obtain funds for the transaction from acustomer account, and further enable the merchant to process theuniversal prepaid card for the surcharge amount.

Still further, in some embodiments, a plurality of universal prepaidcards are distributed over a geographic region, with individual prepaidcards being provided to corresponding merchant locations of thegeographic region. A system includes memory resources and one or moreprocessors to store and maintain one or more data structures forproviding a service for use with universal prepaid cards. In oneexample, the system may store and maintain a first data structure foreach of the plurality of prepaid cards, including (i) an identifier ofeach of the plurality of prepaid card, and (ii) a merchant identifierfor each merchant location in the geographic region where the prepaidcard physically resides. For a collection of the plurality of prepaidcards, the stored information can also include (iii) one or morecommunication identifiers that are associated with each of the prepaidcards of the collection. In some variations, a second data structure isprovided to (i) list an identifier for each customer in a population ofcustomers, (ii) associate a customer communication identifier with theidentifier of each customer, and (iii) associate a funding account ofthat customer with the customer identifier. One or more processorsexecute instructions stored in the memory resources to process, inconnection with a transaction at a merchant location, a customer dataset which identifies a given customer identifier from the second datastructure. The one or more processors further process a transaction dataset which is communicated from a given merchant of the merchant locationusing one of the communication identifiers associated with theidentifier of the prepaid card. The transaction data may include anamount of the transaction. The one or more processors may also confirm,by accessing a funding source of the prepaid card, that the givenmerchant has processed the amount identified by the transaction data setfor authorization or payment from the funding source. Furthermore, theone or more processors may use the customer communication identifier toprovide a communication to the customer identified by the customer dataset. The communication may identify the processed amount as previouslycommunicated by the merchant. In response to the customer providing theconfirmation action, the funding account of the customer may be accessedby the one or more processors for funds that include or correspond tothe amount.

According to an aspect, an embodiment includes an electronic paymentprocessing system which enables a merchant to offer a payment mechanismthat is linked to the merchant and not the customer, but which themerchant can offer to customers for purpose of completing transactionswith the merchant. In some embodiments, the payment mechanism which isoffered to customers includes a universal prepaid card that is funded bythe electronic processing system. Accordingly, an electronic paymentprocessing system enables merchants to access and offer customer's useof an independently funded universal prepaid card. Among other benefits,examples such as described enable the merchant to have control over thepayment mechanism.

Moreover, according to another aspect, embodiments describe analternative to the payment/collection process which exists underconventional practices. For many kinds of merchants, the elimination ofa disruptive or tedious payment process provides an opportunity toenrich the customer experience and develop a relationship with thecustomer. For the customer, an electronic payment processing system suchas described provides convenience and security, as the customer'spayment and account information is not shared with the merchant. Forthese and other reasons, examples described provide an electronicpayment processing system which is more efficient for both customers andmerchants, in terms of convenience, security and enhancing customerexperience.

According to another aspect, an electronic payment processing system isprovided which links a payment mechanism, provided in the form of aprepaid debit card, with a funding source that can be made available formultiple customers, transactions and/or merchants. The shared fundingsource can include, for example, an account established for the paymentmechanism with a service provided by, for example, an electronic paymentprocessing system, as described with various examples provided herein.An account or source may be “shared” in that funds from the account (orsource) can be used independently for multiple transactions and/orcustomers, independent of one another. Thus, by way of example, theshared funding account can be dedicated for the particular paymentmechanism, or the account can fund multiple different payment mechanismswith one or more multiple merchants. In some variations, the sharedfunding source can correspond to multiple accounts with funds fortransactions. In some alternative variations, the shared funding sourcecan correspond to a dynamically determined account, which can beselected and/or created for the corresponding payment mechanism on anindividual basis (e.g., per day, per transaction etc.).

One or more embodiments described herein can be implemented usingprogrammatic modules, engines, or components. A programmatic module,engine, or component can include a program, a sub-routine, a portion ofa program, or a software component or a hardware component capable ofperforming one or more stated tasks or functions. As used herein, amodule or component can exist on a hardware component independently ofother modules or components. Alternatively, a module or component can bea shared element or process of other modules, programs or machines.

Some embodiments described herein can generally require the use ofcomputing devices, including processing and memory resources. Forexample, one or more embodiments described herein may be implemented, inwhole or in part, on computing devices such as servers, desktopcomputers, cellular or smartphones, personal digital assistants (e.g.,PDAs), laptop computers, printers, digital picture frames, networkequipment (e.g., routers) and tablet devices. Memory, processing, andnetwork resources may all be used in connection with the establishment,use, or performance of any embodiment described herein (including withthe performance of any method or with the implementation of any system).

Furthermore, one or more embodiments described herein may be implementedthrough the use of instructions that are executable by one or moreprocessors. These instructions may be carried on a computer-readablemedium. Machines shown or described with figures below provide examplesof processing resources and computer-readable mediums on whichinstructions for implementing embodiments of the invention can becarried and/or executed. In particular, the numerous machines shown withembodiments of the invention include processor(s) and various forms ofmemory for holding data and instructions. Examples of computer-readablemediums include permanent memory storage devices, such as hard drives onpersonal computers or servers. Other examples of computer storagemediums include portable storage units, such as CD or DVD units, flashmemory (such as carried on smartphones, multifunctional devices ortablets), and magnetic memory. Computers, terminals, network enableddevices (e.g., mobile devices, such as cell phones) are all examples ofmachines and devices that utilize processors, memory, and instructionsstored on computer-readable mediums. Additionally, embodiments may beimplemented in the form of computer-programs, or a computer usablecarrier medium capable of carrying such a program.

Payment Processing System

FIG. 1 illustrates a payment processing system for implementinguniversal prepaid cards which reside at merchant locations for use byauthorized users, according to one or more embodiments. A paymentprocessing system 100 such as shown by an example of FIG. 1 can beimplemented in a variety of computing environments, including as anetwork service to enable users to locate and utilize universal prepaidcards in order to provide payment for a transaction. In oneimplementation, the payment processing system 100 can be implementedusing one or more servers which implement backend operations to enablethe use of a universal prepaid card (“UPPC 10”) at a given merchantlocation. According to some aspects, the payment processing system 100can further be implemented in part by computing devices of the customerand/or merchant. For example, a mobile computing device of a customermay run an application for implementing functionality used with paymentprocessing system 100. Likewise, a merchant location can be associatedwith a mobile computing device (or other computer platform) which runsan application for implementing merchant related functionality describewith payment processing system 100. Still further, while some examplesare described which implement payment processing system 100 using one ormore servers, variations may utilize other computing environments, suchas provided by a proprietary network.

Among other benefits, payment processing system 100 offers convenienceto authorized customers of a merchant location, in that the customer canprovide payment for the transaction automatically, without need for thecustomer to perform any affirmative action. Moreover, the process inwhich the customer provides payment can be performed asynchronously andindependent of the customer's interaction with the merchant location.For example, in the context of a restaurant, the customer can simplyleave the merchant location once the meal is finished, and the processfor obtaining payment from the customer can be completed at a latertime.

In an example such as described with FIG. 1, the payment processingsystem 100 can offer a customer the convenience of leaving when he isdone with his meal. At the same time, the payment processing system 100can offer a merchant the service and convenience of the UPPC 10, withoutrequiring the merchant to invest in new equipment or financial paymentresources. Rather, the merchant can use existing financial processinginfrastructure to process a customer's use of the UPPC 10. For example,the merchant can use a standard point-of-sale terminal, combined with apayment network such as provide by VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS,DISCOVER or ACH.

As described with numerous examples, the UPPC 10 can be deliveredunsolicited to a merchant, and then subsequently activated for themerchant or merchant location. In use, the UPPC 10 can be handled andprocessed as a prepaid debit card through a standard credit cardauthorization network, which nearly all merchants are equipped toprovide.

As described in greater detail, payment processing system 100 operatesto associate individual UPPC 10 with a corresponding merchant location.Additionally, payment processing system 100 can operate to manage ashared funding source for each UPPC 10. The payment processing system100 can operate to provide immediate funds, or authorization for funds,when a given UPPC 10 is used at an associated merchant location.Operations to verify that the funds accessed by the merchant areauthorized can be implemented asynchronously, such as after when thecustomer leaves the merchant location. In this way, the paymentprocessing system 100 can link each UPPC 10 with a shared fundingsource, which can provide funds for transactions. According to anexample of FIG. 1, the shared funding source corresponds to a sharedfunding account 20, and each UPPC 10 is linked to a corresponding sharedfunding account 20. In variations, multiple the shared funding sourcecan correspond to multiple accounts, each of which are linked one ormore UPPC 10. Still further, the shared funding source can include orcorrespond to logic which dynamically assigns and/or creates an accountfor funding one or more UPPC 10 on an event (e.g., every day or week,after each transaction) or on-demand basis (e.g., just prior toauthorizing funds through the UPPC 10 of a given merchant).

In an implementation described with FIG. 1, the shared funding source isshown and described as shared funding account 20. The payment processingsystem 100 can be funded repeatedly over a given time period. Therepeated funding of the corresponding shared funding account for theUPPC 10 enables multiple participating customers to use the UPPC 10 overa given time period. As will be described in greater detail, a customerwho utilizes the UPPC 10 can complete a transaction payment processautomatically based on parameters such as customer location (e.g.,transaction can be completed when the customer leaves the merchantlocation). Thus, the customer can utilize the UPPC 10 at a merchantlocation without performing any affirmative or assertive actions withinthe merchant location. For example, a customer who utilizes the UPPC 10at a restaurant can simply leave upon completing his or her meal,without discussion, notification or approval from the restaurant.

According to one implementation, the UPPC 10 resides at the merchantlocation and is utilized by the customer automatically based on (i) asetting or input of the customer, and (ii) physical presence of thecustomer at the merchant location. Thus, the customer can make a singleuse of a UPPC 10 that is pre-established a particular merchant locationand available to multiple customers. The UPPC 10 is not linked to thecustomer, and once the customer is finished using the UPPC 10 for his orher transaction, the UPPC 10 is made available for another customer asneeded. The customer can receive a single use of the UPPC 10, and theUPPC 10 is funded from a shared funding account which the customerreimburses asynchronously at a later time. From the perspective of thecustomer, the UPPC 10 offers a secure payment mechanism, as the customerdoes not need to use his own personal information or credit card at themerchant location. Likewise, the merchant also receives a secure paymentmechanism in that the backend processes of payment processing system 100ensure that the merchant receives immediate payment (or authorizationfor payment) from the shared funding account of the UPPC 10.

Additionally, payment processing system 100 can offer customers anotherconvenience of maintaining discretion and confidentiality as to, forexample, an amount of a transaction, since payment processing system 100enables the UPPC 10 to be utilized with no affirmative action of thecustomer (e.g., the customer does not need to discuss the transactionwith the merchant). Rather, the customer can simply leave the merchantlocation, and have the merchant complete the transaction which thecustomer reviews and approves at a later time. In the context ofrestaurants, for example, customers bring guests, and there is sometimesappreciation for discretion as to when and how payment for the group ismade (e.g., such as when a customer wishes to treat another guest). Inan example of FIG. 1, payment processing system 100 enables the customerto forego an uncomfortable process of receiving the check and thenpaying for the check. In an example of FIG. 1, the customer can simplyskip the check process and leave with the guests.

With further reference to FIG. 1, payment processing system 100 includesmerchant interface 110, customer interface 120, transaction manager 130,and payment switch 150. The merchant interface 110 can be utilized bymerchants in order for guests to register and be associated with theUPPC 10 at that merchant location. Once the merchant establishes theUPPC 10, any number of authorized customers can utilize the UPPC 10 at alater time. The merchant interface 110 can subsequently be used toimplement steps in the processing of the transaction when a customerelects to utilize the UPPC 10. Among other functions, the customerinterface 120 enables the user to view merchants who have correspondingUPPC 10 available for use. For example, the customer can interact withthe customer interface 120 in order to see merchants which offer theUPPC 10 in a designated geographic region or locality. As described ingreater detail, the customer interface 120 can also be used to verifycharges asynchronously after when the customer leaves the merchantpremise.

The transaction manager 130 can be implemented to initiate and completea transaction using the UPPC 10 at a given merchant location. For agiven customer interaction, the transaction manager 130 can verify atransaction amount, communicate the transaction amount to the customer,and subsequently obtain funds from a customer funding account forreimbursement to the shared funding account. Among other functions, thetransaction manager 130 can operate to initiate the process to obtainfunds (or authorization of funds) from the customer funding accounts 30for purpose of reimbursing the shared funding account 20.

The payment switch 150 includes logic to analyze, trigger funding of,and/or monitor access of the shared funding account 20. Among otherfunctions, the payment switch 150 can link the shared funding account 20with the UPPC 10 as part of an initial activation process. Once linked,the payment processing system 100 can fund the shared funding account 20for access by merchant running the UPPC 10 through the merchantpoint-of-sale terminal. In some variations, the transaction manager 130can manage the state of the customer and merchant engagement during atransaction, and further signal the payment switch 150 in order to causethe payment switch to monitor the shared funding account 20 forwithdrawal requests from the merchant. In some variations, the paymentswitch 150 can obtain approval information 171 (e.g., actual amount oftransaction, predicted transaction amount, transaction limit forcustomer or merchant, etc.) from the transaction manager 130 to approvethe merchant's access to the shared funding account 20 when the merchantprocesses payment for the customer transaction.

In variations, the payment switch 150 can also link the UPPC 10 with aparticular point-of-sale terminal at the merchant location. Stillfurther, the payment switch 150 can link the UPPC 10 with a geographiclocation of the merchant location. The payment switch 150 can implementsecurity rules or logic 154 to monitor and guard against use of the UPPC10 unless the UPPC 10 is processed through the specific point-of-saleterminal and/or merchant location.

Setup Process

In an example of FIG. 1, users can include both merchants and customers,and users of each role can utilize the payment processing system 100 bycompleting a corresponding set-up process. As customers, users canenroll or register through customer interface 120. The customerinterface 120 can include programming or logic that resides on a serverof system 100. As an addition or alternative, the customer interface 120can be implemented using a distributed computing platform that can beimplemented in part using an application or application component thatruns on a mobile computing device 121 of the user. A user can complete acustomer registration process by providing a customer data set 141. Inan example of FIG. 1, the customer data set 141 can be stored in acustomer data store 125. The customer data set 141 may include user nameand/or identifier (e.g., picture) of the customer, one or morecommunication identifiers (e.g., mobile computing device telephonynumber, messaging identifier), and one or more account records which canenable programmatic or remote access to a customer funding account 30(e.g., such as provided for a credit card, debit card, or checkingaccount). The information provided with the customer registrationprocess can enable system 100 to subsequently obtain authorization andfunds from a funding account 20 of the user in connection with use ofUPPC 10 located at different merchant locations which the particularcustomer conducts transactions at.

For merchants, an enrollment process can include a preliminary step ofputting the merchant in physical possession of a UPPC 10. According toone aspect, each merchant in a given geographic region can receivephysical delivery (e.g., through postal mail) of a UPPC 10. For example,a merchant can be provided an unsolicited UPPC 10. In one example, theUPPC 10 can have no link or association with the merchant, rather thelinkage between the UPPC 10 and the merchant is created when themerchant first registers the prepaid card.

In one example, the UPPC 10 is sent to addresses of merchants using amerchant database 115. The merchant database 115 can store merchantrecords 123, which can include records that identify merchants who havereceived a UPPC 10 but not yet activated the UPPC 10. Each UPPC 10 cancorrespond to a debit card instrument, having a numerical identifier(e.g., printed or marked on the card itself) that distinguishes the UPPC10 from other cards. By way of example, the merchant data store 115 canstore a list of merchant identifiers (e.g., business names) 91, andmerchant locations 93 (e.g., street address, longitude or latitude).

Each UPPC 10 can be delivered to a corresponding merchant location withinstructions or guidance to inform the merchant operator to store theUPPC 10 next to a point-of-sale terminal. In one implementation, thesystem 100 includes a distribution component which sends a batch set ofUPPC 10 to merchant locations of a particular geographic region. Thebatch set of UPPC 10 can be sent unsolicited, but made registerablethrough system 100 at time of first use. In one implementation, themerchant instructions can also specify that the merchant contact aresource of system 100 in order to activate the 10.

In some cases, the merchant initiates contact with payment processingsystem 100 to register for use of the UPPC 10. In one implementation,the merchant initiates contact with payment processing system 100 uponreceiving a UPPC 10. The contact information provided with the UPPC 10can trigger implementation of a registration process. A registrationmanager 118 can, for example, implement a registration workflow whichprompts the merchant to enter information and perform actions to link tothe prepaid card. In one implementation, the merchant is instructed torun a small charge through the UPPC 10. The transaction manager 130 cansignal a verification check 151 to the payment switch 150 in order todetermine whether the merchant's point-of-sale terminal was able toaccess the shared funding account 20. For purpose of verification andsetup, the initial charge processed using the UPPC 10 against the sharedfunding account 20 can be declined. The payment switch 150 can monitorthe shared funding account 20 for information that identifies theattempted small charge, as well as information that identifies theentity, resource and attribute that utilized the UPPC 10 in order tocreate the small charge. For example, the switch 150 can monitor thecharges made for the shared funding account 20 in order to identify datathat identifies the point-of-sale terminal, including data which canidentify one or more of (i) an identifier (e.g., machine) of amerchant's point-of-sale terminal, (ii) a geographic identifierassociated with the merchant's point-of-sale terminal, (iii) aidentifier communicated through the merchant's point-of-terminal.According to some examples, the payment switch 150 can extract suchinformation from the authentication access for the shared account 20,and further store the data of the merchant in association with thespecific UPPC 10. The status 95 of the merchant as registered oractivated (in connection with the corresponding UPPC 10) can be updatedin the merchant data store 115. Additionally, the identifier 97 of theUPPC 10 for that merchant can be associated with the merchant record.Additionally, the shared funding account identifier (“SFA ID 99”) forthe UPPC 10 that is associated with the merchant can also be included inthe same record.

In some examples, the registration manager 118 may also request themerchant to supply a communication identifier (e.g., mobile telephonephone number, application identifier) in order to register the UPPC 10.When the UPPC 10 is registered, the registration manager 118 can updatea corresponding merchant record 123 to record information thatassociates the merchant location, and status information to indicate themerchant is in possession of a registered and active UPPC 10. In thisway, the corresponding merchant record 123 can associate an identifierof the UPPC 10 (e.g., numerical identifier) with the registered stateand the merchant location. Additionally, the merchant record 123 canlink the identifier of the UPPC 10 with a share funding account 20.

The shared funding account 20 can be controlled or managed by theresources of the system 100, such as implemented through the switch 150.The system 100 can manage or control one or more shared fundingaccounts, with each activated UPPC 10 being linked to one of the sharedfunding accounts. Each shared funding account 20 provides a mechanismfor providing immediate payment or payment authorization to a merchantfor purpose of funding a transaction made through a corresponding UPPC10 that is resident at a given merchant location. Furthermore, asdescribed with examples below, the payment processing system 100 isconfigured to use the shared funding account 20 to fund individualprepaid cards on a temporary or per-use basis.

An example of FIG. 1 also recognizes that a conversation rate in whichmerchants of the geographic region activate the UPPC 10 can berelatively low. However, customers who are incentivized to requestaccess of the UPPC 10 can serve as a mechanism for triggering activationof individual UPPC 10. Accordingly, system 100 can record merchantlocations where UPPCs 10 were sent, as well as those merchant locationswhere the UPPC 10 is registered and activate.

Card Registration with First Customer Use

According to some examples, a customer who is a first-in-time user of agiven UPPC 10 can trigger a merchant into registering the UPPC 10 thatis physically present at the merchant location. The first-in-time usecan occur when, for example, a customer enters the merchant locationwith the intent or desire to use a UPPC 10. The customer can, forexample, provide a card use request 127 through an application runningon the customer's mobile computing device 121 that forms part of thecustomer interface 120. The card use request 127 can be provided as aseries of communications which include a preliminary query 129 (“PQ129”) for merchants which offer the UPPC 10 or which have anunregistered UPPC 10.

In some variations, a search component can receive or otherwise fieldthe preliminary query 129 in order to generate a result 119 whichidentify merchants which (i) have an active and registered UPPC 10onsite, or (ii) are believed to have an unregistered or inactive UPC 10onsite)=. The result 119 can identify a list of merchants by, forexample, name or address or through geographic coordinates. The customerinterface 120 can then render a presentation (e.g., list or map) of theresult 119. From the result 119, the user/customer can make a selectionof merchant location of interest, and the selection can correspond tothe card use request 127. In some variations, the card use request 127can be made through user input, and optionally as part of a transactionthat also utilizes the preliminary query 129. In variations, the carduse request 127 can be made by programmatically detecting (e.g., throughthe customer interface 120, tracking the position of the customer mobilecomputing device) the customer entering the merchant location. Stillfurther, the card use request 127 can be generated when the customerrequests use of the prepaid card and is at the merchant location orwithin a predefined distance from the merchant location. The inclusionof a proximity or presence condition with the customer use request 127can facilitate the system 100 in persuading the merchant to register theUPPC 10.

When the merchant location of the card use request 127 does not have aUPPC 10 which is registered, the card use request 127 can becommunicated as a trigger 139 to the registration manager 118 of system100 to contact (or send a notification to) the merchant where theunregistered card resides. In one example, the registration manager 118implements a registration process which identifies a phone number orother communication identifier of the merchant from a correspondingmerchant record 123 of the merchant data store 115. The workflowimplemented by the registration manager 118 can include programmaticallytriggering an initial communication 117 such as a phone call to themerchant and using either a human or pre-recorded message to guide themerchant through a process in which the merchant can register the UPPC10. If the customer is co-located at the merchant location (or nearby),information about the customer (e.g., first name, picture, description,etc.) can be communicated to the merchant in order to make the prospectof the transaction with the customer more credible. By linking theregistration of the UPPC 10 to the request of a customer at the merchantlocation, the conversion rate by which merchants seek to register anunsolicited UPPC 10 can be increased. Additionally, if the merchant wassent a UPPC 10 but did not keep it when the customer makes the request,the registration manager 118 can provide the merchant with anopportunity to order a new card.

As part of the registration process, the merchant can be told to performan initial payment processing of the UPPC 10 for a small payment. TheUPPC 10 can be in the form of a prepaid debit card which can beprocessed using a standard point-of-sale terminal, such as apoint-of-sale terminal which processes a VISA or MASTERCARD instrument.During the registration process, the payment switch 150 can implementcontrols to decline the transaction, but the act of the merchant runningthe UPPC 10 through the merchant's point-of-sale terminal results in thetransaction manager 130 obtaining information that can link the UPPC 10with the point-of-sale terminal of the merchant operator. In oneimplementation, the transaction manager 130 can use the payment switch150 to check the shared funding account 20 for the initial paymentprocessing that was performed by the merchant. The payment switch 150can also include logic to identify the point-of-sale terminal and/ormerchant location from which the UPPC 10 was processed. Thus, the UPPCcan be sent to merchants without any pre-identification to the merchant,then subsequently used at the merchant terminal, where theidentification between merchant (and merchant point-of-sale terminal)can be made. In this way, the identifier of the point-of-sale terminal,as well as the identifier of the UPPC 10 in use with the merchant can beobtained and linked in the merchant data store 115. As described ingreater detail, the data linking the merchant identifier and/orpoint-of-sale terminal to the particular UPPC 10 can serve as a securitymechanism. The payment switch 150 can approve future use of the UPPC 10if future payment processing operations that specify the identifier ofthe UPPC 10 originate from the merchant location or merchantpoint-of-sale terminal.

Once the setup of the merchant is complete, the transaction with theuser can be implemented as a background process which requires minimalinvolvement from the customer. For example, the customer may be able tophysically enter the merchant location and receive goods or serviceswithout directly interacting with the merchant operator.

Card Usage

When the merchant has registered a UPPC 10, a process for enabling acustomer to use the UPPC 10 for the transaction can include the merchantmaking the card use request 127. Depending on implementation, the carduse request 127 can be made either before or after the user/customerenters the merchant location. Additionally, the card use request 127 canbe triggered based on one or more of (i) user input (e.g., userselecting the merchant location for use with UPPC 10), or (ii)automatically, based in part on the user's location. For example, theuser can include a setting on their mobile computing device 121 whichgenerates a notification or prompt when the customer is in a merchantlocation where the UPPC 10 is offered. When at the location, the usercan respond to the prompt in order to signal his or her interest toconduct a transaction at the merchant location. As an alternative, theuser can generate the query 129 when in a particular geographic regionin order to receive the result 119 which identifies merchant locationswhere a corresponding UPPC 10 is located. When the user subsequentlyenters one of the merchant locations provided in their result 119 (e.g.,within a predefined threshold of time, or in accordance with aschedule), one implementation provides that the user intent is inferred.

The transaction manager 130 can receive the card use request 127, andtrigger the merchant interface 110 to implement a programmatic orautomated process to contact a merchant operator at the particularlocation. According to one aspect, merchant interface 110 informs themerchant that a particular customer at the merchant location intends touse the UPPC 10. A message (e.g., recorded human message) or othercommunication 131 can be communicated to the merchant operator to informthe merchant operator that a customer wishes to use the UPPC 10. Forexample, the communication from merchant interface 110 can be in theform of an application content, text message or other message medium.For example, the communication 131 can be sent to a mobile computingdevice of an operator at the merchant location. The communication 131can identify the customer, such as the customer's name and/or customerimage.

The merchant can provide a response 133 using functionality of themerchant interface 110 that acknowledges the card use request 127. Inone implementation, the merchant response 133 can be provided through acomputing device 111 of the merchant (e.g., merchant mobile computingdevice or MCD) running a merchant application that includesfunctionality for implementing the merchant interface 110. As analternative or variation, the merchant response 133 can correspond to amessage 133 (e.g., text message), such as an SMS or MMS message.Optionally, the merchant MCD 111 which receives the communication 131and provides the response 133 can be operated by either an employee oremployer. For example, a restaurant operator (e.g., waiter, host, orproprietor) can be notified of a customer and the card use request 127.The communication 131 from the merchant interface 110 can becommunicated to the merchant MCD 111 of a waiter, and the response 133can also originate from the waiter. Depending on the implementation, theexchange of communication 131 and response 133 can occur before and/orafter the customer is seated, or at any point before when the customeris provided the bill. The response 133 can be forwarded to the customer,and the customer can leave (or “dash”) the premise of the merchantlocation when the service and/or goods is complete.

According to some examples, the payment processing system 100 performsseparate fund transfer operations in order (i) fund the shared fundingaccount 20 for the merchant benefit when processing the UPPC 10, and(ii) obtain funds from the customer for the customer's transaction withthe merchant. In some examples, the payment processing system 100maintains the shared funding account 20 at a particular minimum level toprovide sufficient funds to encompass a designated minimum number oftransactions. In such implementations, the shared funding account 20 canbe linked to multiple UPPC 10, and the funding of the shared fundingaccount 20 can occur with or independent of specific transactions. Invariations, the shared funding account 20 is funded for individual usersor transactions. As described in greater detail, the funding can be afixed amount, an estimated amount or an actual amount of thetransaction. In some variations, the shared funding account 20 isoverfunded, and the overfunded portion is withdrawn from the sharedfunding account 20, or reapplied for another transaction after a giventransaction is complete. When the shared funding account 20 is funded onan as needed basis, one implementation provides for the shared fundingaccount 20 to be linked to a single UPPC 10. In the examples provided,the shared funding account 20 provides a secure and certain source ofpayment for a transaction conducted through the UPPC 10, which isretained by the merchant for customers.

In variations, at a point after the customer commits to receiving thegood or service, the transaction manager 130 can access the customerdata set 141 to obtain customer information for use in the transaction.The customer information can include customer financial accountidentifier 157, which enables the payment switch 150 to perform apayment processing operation (“PPO 163”) using the customer account 30.In this way, the transaction manager 130 can be responsive to an eventor condition in the course of the customer engaging the merchant, atwhich point the transaction manager 130 signals a trigger 169 to thepayment switch 150 in order to obtain funds 155 (or authorization toobtain funds) from the customer account 30 for application to thecustomer's transaction. The funds 155 can be stored in an account of thepayment processing system 100.

In examples, the funds 155 can be obtained from the customer account 30before or after the payment switch 150 performs deposit fundingoperation 159 for the shared funding account 20. Thus, the paymentprocessing system 100 can fund the shared funding account 20independently of obtaining funds from the customer account 30. Forexample, the shared funding account 20 can be funded or overfunded forthe customer's transaction before funds are obtained from the customeraccount 30. In some variations, the funds are not obtained from thecustomer account 30 until conditions have been met, such as in the caseof the customer leaving the merchant location and then providingapproval for the payment processing system 100 wo withdraw funds fromthe customer account 30.

In some variations, the shared funding account 20 can be funded (viadeposit funding operation 159) by the payment switch 150, in response toor otherwise after when (i) the customer provides input indicating thecustomer's intent to use the UPPC 10, (ii) the customer is detected asentering the merchant location, (iii) the customer is detected asstaying inside the merchant location for a duration of time that exceedsa threshold, and/or the (iv) the merchant operator providing input thatconfirms that the customer will be able to use the UPPC 10. Thetransaction manager 130 can monitor or otherwise detect conditions whichcan be used to fund or perform the deposit funding operation 159.According to some examples, the transaction manager 130 signals thetrigger 163B for the payment switch 150 in order to perform the depositfunding operation 159.

The amount funded to the shared funding account 20 can be based on oneor more factors, including (i) a customer profile, such as the amount acustomer usually spends for a particular type of transaction (e.g.,lunch at restaurant), (ii) a merchant profile (e.g., classification ofmerchant as provided by electronic processing system 100 or third-party,median or typical price range from merchant), and/or (iii) apredetermined flat fee amount. In variations, the funding of the sharedfunding account 20 can be based on an amount which is indicated by inputfrom the merchant operator. The transaction manager 130 can signal thefunding of the shared funding account 20 via the payment switch 150. Insome variations, the transaction manager 130 can signal the paymentswitch 150 to overfund the shared funding account 20, and then withdrawthe overfunded portion once the merchant processes payment against the10.

Once the service or good is provided, the transaction manager 130 cansignal one or more merchant communications 131 to the merchant interface110 (e.g., application running on the merchant MCD 111). The merchantcommunications 131 can include prompts for the merchant interface 110 toperform a payment processing operation using the UPPC 10, so as toreceive funds or (authorization for funds) from the shared fundingaccount 20. The merchant can perform the payment processing operationthrough the merchant's existing third-party payment network (e.g., VISA,MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER, ACH). Additionally, the merchantcan provide, via the merchant interface 110, a transaction communication143, which includes information about the customer's transaction. Theinformation of the transaction communication 143 can identify an amount(or preliminary amount) of the transaction. In one implementation, theinformation of the transaction communication 143 can include an image ofthe customer's receipt. As an addition or variation, the customerinterface 120 can programmatically determine when the transaction iscomplete by monitoring the customer's position and/or communicating theposition information of the customer as a mechanism for indicating thatthe customer is no longer located at the merchant location.

In certain cases like restaurant and meal preparation, the amount of thetransaction can correspond to a preliminary amount, which can besupplemented or augmented by the customer. The transaction communication143 can be generated before or after when the merchant performs thepayment operation for the UPPC 10 using the shared funding account 20.In some implementations, an amount specified in the transactioncommunication 143 can be referenced against an authorization madeagainst the shared funding account from the merchant or the merchant'spoint-of-sale terminal.

According to one implementation, the transaction manager 130 canimplement a holding queue 135 which maintains a transaction record 137that pairs card use request 127 (e.g., customer identifier 117 (“CI”)from the customer data set 141) with the transaction communication 143confirming the transaction has been completed at the merchant location.Once the transaction is detected as being complete, transaction manager130 uses the customer identifier to determine the customer fundingaccount identifier 157. The customer funding account identifier 157 canbe communicated to payment switch 150, which then performs anotherpayment processing operation (“PPO 169”) to obtain authorization orfunds from the customer funding account 30. Prior to obtaining fundsfrom the customer funding account, the transaction manager 130 caninitiate an approval process to receive an approval from the customer.According to one implementation, the transaction manager 130 generates acommunication 147 that is communicated to the customer via the customerinterface 120. The communication 147 can include or correspond to thetransaction communication 143 provided from the merchant. Thus, thecommunication 147 can convey, for example, an image of the receipt. Thecustomer can signal a response 149 to confirm agreement with the amountof the transaction. For certain kind of transactions, the customer maysupply a tip 153 (or surcharge) with the response 149. The tip 153 canbe received through the customer interface 120 by the transactionmanager 130, and then communicated back to the merchant via the merchantinterface 110. The merchant can then implement another paymentprocessing operation against the shared funding account 20 for the tipamount 153.

Additional Usage Scenarios and Alternative Examples

While numerous examples are detailed in context of restaurants, examplesas described also pertain to other types or merchants and transactions.For example, an example of FIG. 1 can be implemented in context of aretail merchant, such as a grocery store, can provide UPPC 10, which thecustomer can access as a mechanism to avoid checkout. The customer maycreate a record of merchandise items which the customer intends topurchase, and then the customer can walk out of the merchant locationwith the merchandise items. The record of the merchandise items whichthe customer purchased can be made through, for example, the customerinterface 120 (e.g., through an application running on a mobilecomputing device of the customer). As an alternative or variation, therecord of the items which the customer identify for purchase can be madeat an interface provided by the merchant location. For example, themerchant location can include a barcode scanner which the customer canoperate to identify items that he or she wishes to purchase.

According to other variations, a customer can reserve the UPPC 10 of amerchant using alternative form an alternative set of conditions orevents which mark customer intent and authenticity. The particular setof conditions or events can be set for the type of transaction, or madespecific for the merchant. For example, the merchant can provide anonline or network accessible interface for access and use to the UPPC10, which the user could access and immediately use through, forexample, the customer interface 120 (e.g., user accesses an applicationto access the UPPC 10). The merchant may then receive orders and queueor sequentially process them using their UPPC 10. As an example, arestaurant can offer a delivery service through a web page orapplication. The user can access the restaurant delivery interface toplace an order, then select the UPPC 10 option at checkout. Whenchecking out, the customer can specify a name and/or other identifierwhich can enable the payment processing system 100 to determine thecustomer account 30. Then the merchant can run the UPPC 10 for thecustomer account 30, and the customer can receive the receipt after thetransaction is processed, as described with examples above.

In another variation, the merchant can provide a reservation interfacefor which the user can reserve a particular time slot for having thetransaction processed. The customer can specify the product or servicefor the transaction (e.g., an item from the menu), and then select atime period for when the product or service is to be received. In thattime period, the merchant can provide the product/service and run theUPPC 10, as described with other examples.

In some variations, the payment processing system 100 can also be usedto enable delayed transactions. According to one example, the customercan enter a merchant location which offers the UPPC 10. For example, thecustomer can enter a store and learn from viewing the customer interface120 (e.g., application running on user mobile computing device) that theparticular store offers the UPPC 10 as an option. The customer canmanually or automatically (e.g., through pre-approved setting) identifyhimself to the customer in order to receive information about whatproducts or services the customer offers, such as products on sale, aproduct catalog or products which the customer identifies as being ofinterest to him (e.g., customer scans barcode through customer interface120). For example, the merchant can send a message to the customerthrough a messaging application or through an application of thecustomer interface. The customer can select items for purchase from themerchant communication, either while the customer is in the store orafter the customer has left the store. For example, the customer canview the merchant catalog hours or days after leaving the store, andthen operate the customer interface 120 (or contact the merchantdirectly) to select merchandise items for purchase. Once the items havebeen identified for purchase, the merchant can process the transactionthrough the UPPC 10.

As another implementation, some merchants provide subscription servicesin connection with an in-store user experience. For example, wineriesprovide taste sessions (user experience) and if the customer appreciatesthe wine and wants to purchase a subscription, the user can indicate hisintent to the merchant, who then processes the UPPC 10 for the merchant.The result is that the user experience is not interrupted.Alternatively, the user can enjoy the experience, elect to receivesubscription or product information from the merchant at a later time,and optionally make a delayed transaction for the subscription.

In various examples, the merchant can use the electronic paymentprocessing system 100 to develop a relationship with the customer. Forexample, the customer may opt to receive promotions from merchants whomhe or she transacts with, and once the customer visits a merchant, themerchant can then market promotions or coupons to the customer, eitherthrough the customer interface 120 or directly.

While numerous examples provide for the UPPC 10 to be provided on aphysical medium, in variations, the UPPC 10 can be stored and used bythe merchant in electronic form. For example, the merchant can store thenumeric identifier of the UPPC 10, which can originally be provided tothe merchant as a physical card. The merchant may also be able tosimultaneously use an electronic version of the UPPC 10, oralternatively a combination of electronic and physical version of theUPPC 10, from multiple point-of-sale terminals.

Alternatively, the payment processing system 100 can issue electronicUPPC 10, which the merchant can store and utilize on an ongoing basis.The electronic UPPC 10 can be provided in any one of a variety ofelectronic medium, and serve to link a payment card to a shared fundingaccount.

Still further, once the customer engages a merchant for the first timeby requesting use of the UPPC 10, the transaction process of the secondor follow on experience of the customer can be made even more automatedfor both customer and merchant. For example, the merchant can maintain aroster of individuals who use the UPPC 10, and when the customerre-enters the merchant location, the merchant can initiate the paymentprocess without any input from the customer.

Methodology

FIG. 2 illustrates a sequence diagram for implementing a paymentprocessing system, in accordance with one or more examples. In anexample of FIG. 2, a payment processing system 100 can implement aservice for enabling a customer to use a mobile computing device (“MCD210”) and a UPPC 10 in order to conduct a transaction at a merchantlocation. In an example of FIG. 2, the merchant can be assumed tooperate one or more of a point-of-sale terminal, telephoniccommunication medium, and/or mobile computing device (e.g., device withan application interface to a merchant service portal for paymentprocessing system 100) at the merchant location where the transaction isto take place, collectively labeled as merchant resources 220 in FIG. 2.

In an example of FIG. 2, the customer operates the MCD 210 to generate aUPPC request 201 for the payment processing system 100. The UPPC request201 can specify that the customer wishes to engage in an on-sitetransaction with a specific merchant. In an example of FIG. 1, thetransaction manager 130 can receive and process the UPPC request 201 asthe customer use request 127.

In one implementation, the payment processing system 100 can signal anotification 203 to the merchant resource 220, which can be resident atthe merchant location. For example, the payment processing system 100can signal the notification 203 through an application interface ofpayment processing system 100, and the application interface can beinstalled or otherwise implemented on a mobile computing deviceassociated with the merchant location (e.g., mobile computing device ofproprietor or employee). Alternatively, the payment processing system100 can (i) initiate a telephonic communication to the merchant, and/or(ii) send an email or message through an alternative communicationmedium, in order to provide notice to the merchant that a customerintends to request use of the merchant's UPPC 10.

The merchant resource 220 can send a confirmation 205 to the paymentprocessing system 100, confirming that the merchant is ready and willingto provide the UPPC 10 for the customer. With reference to an example ofFIG. 1, the merchant resource 220 can be implemented as the MCD 111 (ofproprietor or employee), on which a corresponding service applicationfor the payment processing system 100 is executed. The serviceapplication can, for example, display notifications or messagescorresponding to merchant communications 131, on which notifications(e.g., notification 203) or prompts can be rendered. The merchantresponse (e.g., confirmation 205) can also be signaled through theservice application of the merchant MCD 111.

In response to receiving the confirmation 205, the payment processingsystem 100 can provide the merchant resource 220 with information aboutthe customer, in order to facilitate, for example, the merchant inidentifying the customer. In one implementation, the payment processingsystem 100 can send a user information communication 207, such as amessage or application notification which includes content that displaysthe name, picture and/or other identifier (e.g., mobile computing devicephone number) of the customer to the merchant resource 220. For example,the user information communication 207 can correspond to a serviceapplication notification provided to a mobile computing device of themerchant, and the notification can include a picture, name and/or otheridentifier of the customer who is requesting to use the UPPC 10. Invariations, the payment processing system 100 can trigger a telephoniccommunication to the merchant, and a programmatic or human operator canaudibly provide information to the merchant about the customer who isrequesting to use the UPPC 10. The information provided can include adescription of the customer (e.g., customer name, general physicaldescription, etc.), and/or contextual information (e.g., customer isarriving at a particular time, or is located in a particular location inthe merchant premise, etc.).

The customer can initiate or engage with the merchant upon entering themerchant location. For example, the customer can enter a restaurant andrequest seating (with guests), order from the menu, etc. In somevariations, the processing system 100 can receive geographic data 209from the customer MCD 210 in order to programmatically track thelocation of the customer and identify when, for example, the customerapproaches the desired location and/or enters the merchant location.Still further, the payment processing system 100 can use the geographicdata 209 to track the location of the customer so that when the customerleaves the merchant location, a determination (preliminary or otherwise)is made that the transaction has been completed (e.g., the customer hascompleted his meal service from a restaurant). Thus, the geographictracking of the customer location can be used as a marker to identifywhen, for example, the transaction is over or when the customer hasreceived the product or service of the transaction.

In some variations, the customer UPPC request 201 can be made in advanceof the customer entering the merchant location. Some variations providethat the UPPC request 201 and the follow on communications are exchangedbefore the customer enters the merchant location. In variations, some ofthe communications (e.g., user information communication 207) aretriggered in response to geographic data 209 communicated from thecustomer MCD device 210 indicating the customer has entered the merchantlocation or is in a threshold proximity (e.g., 50 yards) to the merchantlocation. The payment processing system 100 can make a determination asto the location of the customer based on the geographic data 209 whichis communicated from the customer mobile computing device 210. Forexample, the user information communication 207 can be sent to themerchant resource 220 in response to, or only after the customer entersthe premise of the merchant location. Thus, for example, the userinformation communication 207 can be timed to occur once the user entersthe merchant location (e.g., user waits to be seated at a restaurant),or is seated down and receiving service. Still further, in somevariations, the customer UPPC request 201 or follow on communicationscan be triggered after the customer has received the service (e.g.,after when the customer has ordered or received food, or would requestthe check). Still further, while an example of FIG. 2 illustratescommunications exchanged as between the customer MCD 210 and theprocessing system 100, and the processing system 100 and merchantresources 220, some variations provide that the MCD 210 and the merchantresources 220 exchange some communications directly. For example, theprocessing system 100 can serve to link the customer MCD 210 and themerchant resources 220 so that some communications such as confirmation205 and user information communication 207 are signaled between thecustomer MCD 210 and the merchant resource 220 as peers.

In some examples, when the transaction is complete or near complete(e.g., customer leaves restaurant) so that at least the preliminarytransaction amount (i.e., pre-tip) is known to the merchant, themerchant can perform actions to obtain funds for the transaction. In oneexample, the merchant can first signal an amount communication 211 tothe payment processing system 100. The amount communication 211 canrepresent the bill, check or invoice. For restaurants, the amountcommunication 211 can be pre-tip, or alternatively include a default tipamount (which optionally the customer can change).

In some examples, the amount communication 211 can include an image ofthe receipt 213 for the transaction. For example, when the customertransaction is complete, the merchant can take an image of the receiptand message the image to the payment processing system 100. In oneimplementation, the merchant resources 220 can include a merchantservice application which runs on the mobile computing device of themerchant. The image can be communicated via email, SMS, MMS or throughan interface provided with the service application.

Additionally, the merchant resources 220 can initiate a payment processoperation 221 in order to obtain funds for the transaction through ashared funding source of the UPPC 10 (e.g., funded shared account 20; ordynamically assigned or created account). The payment processingoperation 221 can be performed by the merchant using existing orstandard point-of-sale merchant resources. Thus, the payment processingoperation 221 can be at least submitted using components that resideindependent of the payment processing system 100. In some examples, whenthe transaction is complete or near complete (e.g., customer receivesmeal at restaurant, eats meal, etc.), the merchant can use the merchantresources 220 to initiate a payment process operation 221 through thepoint-of-sale terminal at the merchant location in order to access fundsfrom the shared funding account 20. In accessing the shared fundingaccount 20, the merchant can use a third-party payment network (e.g.,VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER or ACH) in order to performthe payment processing operation 221.

In some variations, the payment processing service 100 (e.g., via thepayment switch 150) can monitor access to the shared funding account 20.In some examples, when the merchant resources 220 implement the paymentprocessing operation 221, the payment processing system 100 identifies afunding request from monitoring the shared account 20. For example, thepayment switch 150 can monitor the shared funding account 20 for anaccess request from the merchant (e.g., from the merchant point-of-saledevice) for funds from the shared funding account 20.

In one aspect, the payment processing system 100 can perform one or moresecurity checks (“SC 223”) as to (i) matching a source of the paymentprocessing operation 221 with the point-of-sale terminal (or othermerchant identifier) used to run the UPPC 10, and (ii) checking anamount of the charge entered by the merchant. With reference to anexample of FIG. 1, the merchant data store 115 can be used to confirmthat that the UPPC 10 was received from the appropriate source.Additionally, in some examples, the transaction manager 130 can receivemerchant communications, including transaction communication 143, whichmay include information such as an image of the receipt (e.g., merchantcan use feature phone to capture image of receipt). In oneimplementation, the security check 223 can trigger a process in which,for example, the transaction manager 130 checks the amount on thereceipt 213 of the transaction against the amount that was processedthrough the payment processing operation 221. If the amounts are thesame, then the payment processing system 100 can signal confirmation 225of the security checks 223 for the shared funding account 20. When theconfirmation 225 is provided, the payment switch 150 can provide orpermit withdrawal of the amounts requested by the merchant when runningthe UPPC 10.

An example of FIG. 2 provides for alternative variations orimplementations as to when the payment processing operation 221 can beinitiated, and what communications or events need to occur in advance ofthe payment processing operation 221 being initiated. For example, inFIG. 2, the completion of the service or product of the transaction canbe detected automatically by monitoring the geographic data 209transmitted from the customer MCD 210. For example, the geographic data209 can indicate that the customer has left the merchant location. As anaddition or alternative, the customer can operate a service applicationfor the payment processing system 100 on the customer MCD 210, in orderto signal that the transaction is complete. As still another variation,the merchant can signal an input or perform another action indicatingthe transaction is complete, or at least ready for payment processing.For example, the customer can be detected as leaving the merchantlocation, by tracking location information communicated from the MCD210. The merchant resource 220 can independently provide an amountnotification, which can communicate an invoice, a sales slip, a bill, ora check to the payment processing system 100. When such events orconditions occur, the payment processing operation 221 can be performedto process the UPPC 10 and the shared funding account 20.

In some variations, the payment processing system 100 can perform apre-authorization 215 of the customer account 30 in order to ensurepayment is received for funding the shared account 20. In oneimplementation, payment processing system 100 can be selective inperforming the authorization. For example, pre-authorization 215 can beperformed when the customer is new to the payment processing system 100,or when the customer is at a geographic region that is distant from hisnormal location.

As mentioned with other examples, the UPPC 10 can be associated with aparticular shared funding account 20, and payment processing system 100can provide funding signal 219 to the funding account 20 in anticipationof the customer incurring a charge at the merchant location. Withreference to an example of FIG. 1, the transaction manager 130 of thepayment processing system 100 can signal the payment switch 150 toperform deposit funding operations 159 into the shared account 20. Inthis way, the shared account 20 can optionally be funded in advance ofthe customer completing a transaction with the merchant, such as inadvance of the customer receiving a product or service from the merchantat the merchant location. In an example of FIG. 2, the paymentprocessing operation 221 by which the merchant obtains funds from theshared funding account 20 can follow events which include the sharedfunding account 20 being funded (e.g., via the by the payment processingsystem 100) specifically for the transaction of the particular customer.

The payment processing system 100 can signal a communication 229 to thecustomer as to the transaction amount. In one implementation, thecommunication 229 can forward the receipt 213 provided from themerchant. The communication medium for forwarding the image of thereceipt to the customer can be through messaging (e.g., email, SMS, MMS)or through an application interface of the customer application with thepayment processing system 100. The customer can view the communication229 and, in most cases, signal an approval 231 of the transaction andamount (e.g., unless for example, the customer and the merchant were ina dispute).

In addition to approval 231, the customer can include a tip or surcharge233. For example, in restaurant transactions, the preliminary amount (oramount of the receipt 213) can optionally exclude tip or surcharge. Thecustomer can use the customer MCD 210 to view (e.g., through a serviceapplication to the payment processing system 100) and electronicallysign or approve the receipt. The electronic form can include a featureto enable the customer to add a tip or surcharge amount. In variations,the tip or surcharge amount can be added automatically based on defaultor customer settings (e.g., 18%).

In an example of FIG. 2, the approval 231, along with the surcharge 233can be communicated from the customer to the payment processing system100, and to the merchant via the merchant resources 220. On receipt, themerchant can run the UPPC 10 a second time (or second charge, “SChg235”) against the shared funding account 20 in order to withdraw the tipor surcharge.

The payment processing system 100 can charge 236 the customer account 30for the total transaction (amount of the receipt and tip). For example,the payment switch 150 can perform the payment processing operation 163against the customer account 30 to transfer funds 155 to an account ofthe payment processing system 100.

In some examples, each of the customer and merchant can have anopportunity to provide the other with a rating 237, 239. The rating 237,239 can be tallied or made cumulative to affect the reputation of thecustomer/merchant with respect to other customers or merchants who usethe payment processing system 100.

Methodology

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for providing a universal prepaid card to aset of merchants, according to one or more embodiments. FIG. 4illustrates a method for first time use of a universal prepaid card,according to one or more embodiments. FIG. 5 illustrates a method forimplementing a service for providing a universal prepaid card, accordingto one or more embodiments. An example method of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 can beimplemented using a system such as described with an example of FIG. 1.Accordingly, reference may be made to elements of FIG. 1 for purpose ofillustrating a component of a system for performing a step or sub-stepbeing described.

With reference to an example of FIG. 3, a collection of blank prepaidcards can be distributed to a group of merchants (310). The cardsindividually can be distributed with no pre-association to any accountor merchant, but each card can be activated to be linked to a sharedfunding account 20 and merchant (or merchant point-of-sale terminal)(312).

When an individual card is activated, the card can be associated withthe merchant (320). In one implementation, the association or link canbe provided between the activated prepaid card and the merchant'spoint-of-sale terminal (322). As an addition or variation, theassociation or link can be provided between the merchant location (e.g.,as communicated via GPS) and the prepaid card (324). A process such asimplemented with the registration component 318 can be used to activateindividual cards and link the prepaid cards to merchants. Once activatedand linked, the cards can be described as UPPC 10.

Once activated, the UPPC 10 can be authorized for requesting users. Themanner in which the UPPC 10 can be implemented, for example, includeprocesses described with the transaction manager 130 and/or paymentswitch 150.

With reference to an example of FIG. 4, a customer can utilize UPPC 10at merchant locations through an application on the customer's mobilecomputing device (410). In one implementation, the customer can operatea mobile computing device to receive a list of businesses which providea UPPC 10 (420). The businesses can be located by, for example, ageneral geographic search, or alternatively, a specific name search.With reference to FIG. 1, for example, the customer MCD 121 can submit ageographic query (e.g., zip code, street address), name query, categorydescription or other search term for the search component 122, which inturn provides results 119 which identify matching businesses with theUPPC

The list of businesses which are provided to the user can also bedistinguished to indicate whether the business has an active andavailable UPPC 10 on site (422), or whether the business has yet to useor activate a UPPC 10 (424). For example, the result 119 returned to thecustomer MCD 121 can also identify the state (e.g., activated or notactivated) of the UPPC 10 at the business establishment. The state canoptionally reflect those businesses which have not activated the UPPC10, but which were included on a distribution list for blank cards. Suchbusinesses can be targeted for first in time users, on the probabilitythat the business may have the blank card in the premise and ready foractivation.

When the UPPC 10 is first used, the customer and/or business can receivean award for the first time use. For example, the payment processingsystem can pay the customer or the merchant for using the card. Theaward system can provide a mechanism for promoting the use of the UPPC10.

With reference to an example of FIG. 5, a customer can provide an intentsignal to a payment processing system 100 (see FIG. 1) for use of a UPPC10 at a specific merchant location (510). For example, the customer canoperate an application of a mobile computing device to specify abusiness by business name, street address, map pin, or other search term(512). Thus, in one implementation, the customer can communicate theinput through an application running on a mobile computing device. In avariation, the customer can communicate the intent and merchantindirectly through activity, which can be detected by the paymentprocessing system (514). For example, geographic data 209 (see FIG. 2)can be transmitted form the customer mobile computing device to thepayment processing system 100. The geographic data 209 can reflect, forexample, when the customer is at a particular merchant, or type ofmerchant. If the customer stays at the location an extended period oftime, the customer can be provided a prompt or other communication tooffer the customer to use the UPPC 10 at the merchant location.

Once the customer is confirmed on intent to use the UPPC 10, themerchant can be notified (520). The merchant can be identified through,for example, the manual input of the customer, the search result of thecustomer, and/or the geographic location of the customer. Thenotification can be signaled to the merchant through a variety ofcommunication mediums. For example, the payment processing system 100can trigger a phone call to the merchant using a phone number of that isstored for the merchant (522). As an alternative or variation, thepayment processing system 100 can message a mobile computing device ofthe merchant (e.g., application notification, SMS, MMS etc.) (524).Still further, the payment processing system can send an email or othermessage notification to a registered or known computer of the merchant.Still further, a mobile computing device of an employee of the merchantcan be sent the notification (526).

In some variations, the customer can be identified to the merchant(530). The customer can be identified by a picture, provided through,for example, an application (for payment processing system 100) runningon the customer mobile computing device 121 (532). As an addition oralternative, the customer name can be communicated to the merchantthrough a message or notification (534).

In variations, the notification of (520) and communication (530) can beprovided at the same time, or separately. For example, the notification(520) may be signaled in advance, such as through or as a reservationfor the customer and his or her party. The communication (530) may becommunicated when, for example, the customer is in the merchant locationor nearby. In variations, the notification (520) and communication (530)can be communicated at one time, or near contemporaneously, such as whenthe customer elects to use the UPPC 10 when at the merchant location.

As one example, a customer may arrive at a restaurant and be seated. Aservice application for payment processing system 100 may run on thecustomer's mobile computing device, and the application may (i) detect alocation of the customer, and (ii) measure a threshold duration of time(e.g., 5 minutes) in which the customer is stationary. The applicationmay determine the geographic coordinates of the customer once thethreshold time is met, and the geographic coordinates can becommunicated to the payment processing system 100. The paymentprocessing system 100 can reference the geographic coordinates to themerchant database 115 in order to determine whether a merchant at ornear the location has an active or potentially available UPPC 10. Basedon GPS coordinates, the customer may be provided a notification whichidentifies the restaurant where he is seated, or a restaurant or othermerchant which has a coordinate or location that overlaps or issufficiently near the location of the customer. In the example provided,the customer experience is that he walks into the restaurant and takes aseat, then learns through a notification on his mobile computing devicethat the restaurant offers the UPPC 10. The notification can be madethrough the application running on the customer mobile computing device.At this point, the customer can respond to the notification to indicatehis desire to use the UPPC 10 (as described in 510). The customer inputcan be communicated as a notification to an appropriate merchantresource (e.g., service application running on an associated computingdevice of the merchant) (as described with (520)). The notification tothe merchant may include an image, name and/or other identifier of thecustomer. The customer may also receive a confirmation notification thatthe merchant was notified, and/or that the merchant approved thecustomer's request to use the UPPC 10.

Numerous variations can be implemented with respect to examplesdescribed above, based on implementation and/or preference of thecustomer (or merchant). For example, the customer can provide thenotification of his intent to use the UPPC 10 at an earlier point intime (e.g., just prior to entering the restaurant, or when making areservation), or at a later point in time (e.g., when he receives thecheck, or before he receives the check). Still further, the customer maybe provided a prompt to provide input which locates and/or otherwiseidentifies the customer to the merchant (e.g., “Table 10”, “back booth,green jacket, Andy,” etc.).

With further reference to FIG. 5, the payment processing system 100 canfund the shared funding account 20 for the customer (or anticipatedtransaction from customer) (540). In some examples, the funding of theshared funding account 20 can be set by one or more of (i) defaultamount, (ii) parameters or constraints associated with the merchant,customer (e.g., whether customer has provided pre-authorization tocustomer credit card, history of customer), location or timingconstraints (e.g., late night has lower approved amounts due to higherpropensity for fraud) (542).

While an example of FIG. 5 provides for funding the shared account 20for a particular transaction, variations can also provide that theshared funding account 20 is funded in response to general events orconditions. For example, the shared funding account 20 can be fundedrepeatedly or periodically (e.g., every day) or maintained at a constantamount.

Subsequently, the payment processing system 100 can determine when themerchant has provided the product or service for the transaction to thecustomer (550). The point during the customer/merchant interaction whenthe payment processing system 100 makes this determination can varydepending on implementation, as well as factors such as the type ofmerchant or product/service of the transaction, merchant preference orsettings, and/or customer preference or settings.

In some implementations, the merchant can initiate the process forobtaining funds using the UPPC 10 at an appropriate time, such as whenthe customer/merchant interaction is complete (552). In the case ofrestaurants, the merchant can initiate the process at the time when thecustomer would otherwise receive the bill. In order to initiate theprocess to use the UPPC 10, one implementation provides that themerchant prepares the bill for the customer and then takes a picture ofit. The picture of the bill (or receipt) can be communicated to thepayment processing system. For example, the merchant can use a messagingapplication (e.g., email, SMS etc.), or operate a service application onthe merchant MCD 111 to upload the picture directly. When communicatingthe image of the bill, the merchant can tag or otherwise includeinformation that identifies the customer. This information can becarried over from when the customer first requested to use the UPPC 10.In one implementation, the merchant MCD 111 receives the customeridentification from the customer MCD 121 or payment processing service100 at the start of the customer interaction, then embeds or augmentsthe image of the receipt with the identification information. Theidentification information can correspond to, for example, the customername, a numeric identifier, or an optical identifier (e.g., bar code,QCode).

Some examples recognize that the merchant can initiate the paymentprocess too quickly, such as in the case when the customer may disputethe bill. Accordingly, in some variations, an alternative or additionalverification signal may be used as an indicator of the transaction beingcomplete (554). Such verification signal can be determined from, forexample, input from the customer. For example, the customer may beprompted through an application interface to provide input (e.g., screentap) that confirms that the customer/merchant interaction is complete(or at the point where the bill can be processed). Still further, inorder to reduce manual involvement from the customer, some variationsprovide that the payment processing system 100 can track activity and/orposition of the customer to verify that the customer/merchantinteraction is complete. For example, the customer MCD 121 can operateto communicate position information about the customer to the paymentprocessing system 100. The additional verification signal can beindicated by position information which indicates that the customer hasleft the premise.

In variations, an additional or alternative verification signal can beprovided by the passage of time. For example, the additionalverification signal can correspond to a threshold duration of time(e.g., one hour) having passed since the customer first entered themerchant location. The payment processing system 100 can interpret thecondition of time passage as an additional verification signal when, forexample, the customer does not cancel the transaction after a thresholdtime period has passed. The position of the customer can also bemonitored with time passage as a verification signal.

The merchant can process the UPPC 10 for payment upon the condition orset of conditions being met (560). In one implementation, the merchantcan process the prepaid card after sending the image of the bill orreceipt to the payment processing system 100. In variations, otherconditions can be required before the merchant can process the UPPC 10for payment of the transaction. By way of example, conditions forprocessing payment from the UPPC 10 can include: (i) the paymentprocessing system 100 confirming the amount of the image receipt beforethe UPPC 10 can be processed, and/or (ii) input from the customer, suchas customer confirmation of the amount, or customer confirmation thatthe interaction with the merchant is complete. The payment processingsystem 100 can detect when the merchant processes the UPPC 10 (562). Forexample, with reference to FIG. 1, the payment switch 150 can implementa process to monitor for withdrawal requests against the shared fundingaccount 20. The monitoring can compare an amount of the withdrawalrequest with an amount indicated with the communication from themerchant that provided the electronic form of the receipt. Additionally,the payment switch 150 can monitor the withdrawal request foridentifiers that are linked to the UPPC 10 in use. In oneimplementation, the identifier of the withdrawal request can link theUPPC 10 to a specific point-of-sale terminal of the merchant. If thepayment switch 150 detects that the withdrawal request originate fromanother source, the authorization for the withdraw request can bewithheld or denied. The added security feature of linking the UPPC 10 toa point-of-sale terminal prevents situations when a merchant employee orother person gains access to the UPPC 10 and attempts to withdraw fundsbased on his or her knowledge of an existing customer bill. For example,an unscrupulous waiter can be prevented from running the UPPC 10 on thecustomer's check using his own personal point-of-sale device.

According to some examples, transaction information can be communicatedto the customer for approval, once the UPPC 10 is processed for paymentby the merchant (570). The transaction information can include anelectronic receipt that is based on, or corresponds to, the electronicinformation (e.g., image of physical receipt) communicated from themerchant to the payment processing system 100 (572). In oneimplementation, the transaction manager 130 of the payment processingsystem 100 receives the image and/or information from the merchant, andforwards an electronic receipt that is based on the image and/orinformation provided by the merchant to the customer via the customerinterface. The electronic receipt can be provided to the customer viathe customer MCD 121, such as with an application user-interface thatincludes functionality to enable the customer to signal approval orrejection of the receipt, as well as one or more features to let thecustomer after the final bill amount and/or add a surcharge or gratuityamount.

The payment processing system can receive customer confirmation of thetransaction through customer interaction with the electronic receipt(580). For example, the customer can provide an input through the userinterface of the customer MCD 121. In some variations, the customer canprovide an input in the form of an electronic signature, made throughthe user interface (582). Still further, the customer can provide inputthat includes the gratuity and/or bill modification (584).

The payment processing system 100 can then communicate the surcharge,gratuity and/or modified amount of the bill to the merchant (590). Themerchant can then process the UPPC 10 again for the gratuity or modifiedamount. Additionally, the payment processing system 100 can obtain fundsfor the transaction (including the gratuity and are modified amount)using the customer account 30 (592).

Example Interface

FIG. 6A through FIG. 6E illustrate alternative graphic user interfacesfor use by users of a payment processing system 100, such as describedwith an example of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B illustrate examples of a customer graphic interfacefor implementing aspects of embodiments such as described with FIG. 1through FIG. 5. In FIGS. 6A and 6B, the customer can operate a mobilecomputing device 600 on which the graphic user interface 610 for aservice application is rendered. By way of example, the graphic userinterface 610 as shown can be implemented as part of, for example,customer interface 120, as provided on a customer MCD 121 (see FIG. 1).In an example of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, the customer (“David”) submits aquery through the service application for nearby restaurants which offeror may offer a universal prepaid card for use. The payment processingsystem 100 can return a search result that identifies restaurants whichinclude an active universal prepaid card and restaurants which may havean inactive universal prepaid card. The inactive universal prepaid cardscan be held by merchants who were provided a universal prepaid card foruse at their establishment, but have yet to adopt the prepaid card foruse with customers. For example, each merchant of a given region can beprovided an unsolicited prepaid universal card through bulk maildelivery. As described with other examples, customers of the paymentprocessing system 100 can be incentivized to seek merchants who havebeen mailed a universal prepaid card, but whom have yet to activate thecard. In FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, a customer query (e.g., geographic query)can automatically generate map content 612 or other location informationwhich identifies merchants that offer the universal prepaid card, aswell as those merchants who may have an inactive universal card whichthe customer can attempt to use for the first time.

FIG. 6C and FIG. 6D, the merchant can operate a mobile computing device620 on which the graphic user interface 630 for a service application isrendered. In FIGS. 6C and 6D, the merchant can operate a mobilecomputing device 620 on which the graphic user interface 630 for aservice application is rendered. In one implementation, when themerchant activates the UPPC 10, the merchant is given the opportunity toassociate a mobile computing device 620, local computer and/orpoint-of-sale device with the merchant account. The merchant can, forexample, link a mobile computing device and download a serviceapplication for the payment processing system 100. As shown by anexample of FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B, the service application can then providea merchant user-interface 630 on which notifications 632 and othercontent can be rendered. In the example provided the merchantuser-interface 630 can display a notification of a customer's intent touse the UPPC 10. The merchant can confirm with an input (e.g., screentap), and then receive another notification 634 which confirms that theUPPC 10 will be used for the customer's interaction. Other examples ofinterfaces which can be shown the merchant include displaying an imageor other information about the customer to the merchant.

FIG. 6E illustrates the customer mobile computing device 600, providinga notification 614 that the customer can rely on the UPPC 10. Byreceiving the notification 614, the customer knows he can simply leavewhen he is done with the meal or conducted his business with themerchant.

FIG. 7A through FIG. 7D illustrate examples of graphic user interfaceswhich can be displayed a customer through a customer serviceapplication. Graphic user interfaces such as shown with FIG. 7A throughFIG. 7D can be provided as, for example, part of the customer interface120, as rendered on a customer MCD 121. In FIG. 7A, the user interface710 can display for the customer an electronic receipt 712, such asgenerated from an image taken by the merchant after the customertransaction is performed. The display of the receipt can provide thecustomer with an opportunity to accept or reject the bill. For example,the user interface 710 can include functionality for enabling thecustomer to provide input for accepting or declining the bill. In FIG.7B, the customer can accept the bill by providing an electronicsignature, using a signature feature 714. In FIG. 7C, the customer canalso add a gratuity or service charge through a selection feature of acorresponding interface 716. In FIG. 7D, the customer can be displayedwith a final receipt 718, which can then be uploaded to the a service ofthe payment processing system 100.

Hardware Diagrams

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system upon whichexamples described herein may be implemented. For example, in thecontext of FIG. 1, the payment processing system 100 may be implementedusing a computer system such as described by FIG. 7. The paymentprocessing system 100 may also be implemented using a combination ofmultiple computer systems as described by FIG. 8.

In one implementation, a computer system 800 includes processingresources 810, a main memory 820, a read-only memory (ROM) 830, astorage device 840, and a communication interface 850. The computersystem 800 includes at least one processor 810 for processinginformation and the main memory 820, such as a random access memory(RAM) or other dynamic storage device, for storing information andinstructions to be executed by the processor 810. The main memory 820also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions to be executed by theprocessor 810. The computer system 800 may also include the ROM 830 orother static storage device for storing static information andinstructions for processor 810. The storage device 840, such as amagnetic disk or optical disk, is provided for storing information andinstructions, such as instructions to implement a network service ofpayment processing system 100.

The communication interface 850 can enable the computer system 800 tocommunicate with one or more networks (e.g., cellular network) throughuse of the network link (wireless or wireline). Using the network link,the computer system 800 can communicate with one or more computingdevices, and one or more servers.

The computer system 800 can also include a display device 860, such as acathode ray tube (CRT), an LCD monitor, or a television set, forexample, for displaying graphics and information to a user. An inputmechanism 880, such as a keyboard that includes alphanumeric keys andother keys, can be coupled to computer system 800 for communicatinginformation and command selections to the processor 810. Othernon-limiting, illustrative examples of input mechanisms 880 include amouse, a trackball, touch-sensitive screen, or cursor direction keys forcommunicating direction information and command selections to theprocessor 810 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 860.

Examples described herein are related to the use of the computer system800 for implementing the techniques described herein. According to oneexample, those techniques are performed by the computer system 800 inresponse to the processor 810 executing one or more sequences of one ormore instructions contained in the main memory 820. Such instructionsmay be read into the main memory 820 from another machine-readablemedium, such as the storage device 840. Execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the main memory 820 causes the processor 810to perform the process steps described herein. In alternativeimplementations, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement examples describedherein. Thus, the examples described are not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software.

In examples provided, the instructions can be to implement a paymentprocessing system 100 for a universal prepaid card, such as describedwith an example of FIG. 1. Still further, the instructions can be usedto implement an example method for providing a service through a paymentprocessing system 100, such as described with an example of FIG. 3 orFIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram that illustrates a mobile computing deviceupon which examples described herein may be implemented. In oneembodiment, a computing device 900 may correspond to a customer mobilecomputing device (e.g., customer MCD 121) or merchant mobile computingdevice (e.g., merchant MCD 111). The mobile computing devices cancorrespond to, for example, a cellular device that is capable oftelephony, messaging, and data services. The computing device 900 cancorrespond to a client device or a driver device. Examples of suchdevices include smartphones, handsets or tablet devices for cellularcarriers. The computing device 900 includes a processor 910, memoryresources 920, a display device 930 (e.g., such as a touch-sensitivedisplay device), one or more communication sub-systems 940 (includingwireless communication sub-systems), input mechanisms 950 (e.g., aninput mechanism can include or be part of the touch-sensitive displaydevice), and one or more location detection mechanisms (e.g., GPScomponent or receiver) 960. In one example, at least one of thecommunication sub-systems 940 sends and receives cellular data over datachannels and voice channels.

The processor 910 can be configured with software and/or other logic toperform one or more processes, steps and other functions such asdescribed with the merchant interface 110 (see FIG. 1), customerinterface 120, example methods of FIG. 4. More generally, the processor910 can execute a service application 911 for either a customer ormerchant, in order to receive functionality of payment processing system100 (see FIG. 1). Accordingly, the processor 910 is configured, withinstructions and data stored in the memory resources 920, to operate aservice application such as described with various examples. Forexample, instructions for operating the service application in order todisplay user interfaces can be stored in the memory resources 920 of thecomputing device 900.

A user can operate a client device (such as a computing device 900) tooperate a customer service application 911 for utilizing paymentprocessing system 100 as a customer. The customer service application911 can be used to perform a variety of functions, such as search formerchants which offer a universal prepaid card, request use of theprepaid card, and accept/sign for receipts. By way of example, in usingthe customer service application, location data point 965, such as alocation data point corresponding to the current location of thecomputing device 900, can be determined from the GPS component 970. Thelocation data point 965 can be wirelessly transmitted to the paymentprocessing system via the communication sub-systems 940 as part one ormore determinations made regarding the interaction between customer andmerchant. Other users can operate a client device (such as computingdevice 900) to operate a service application for utilizing paymentprocessing system 100 as a merchant. For example, a merchant serviceapplication 913 can be implemented to receive notifications from thepayment processing system 100, and to communicate information (e.g.,image of receipt) to the payment processing system 100.

It is contemplated for examples described herein to extend to individualelements and concepts described herein, independently of other concepts,ideas or system, as well as for examples to include combinations ofelements recited anywhere in this application. Although examples aredescribed in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings,it is to be understood that the concepts are not limited to thoseprecise examples. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of theconcepts be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.Furthermore, it is contemplated that a particular feature describedeither individually or as part of an example can be combined with otherindividually described features, or parts of other examples, even if theother features and examples make no mentioned of the particular feature.Thus, the absence of describing combinations should not preclude havingrights to such combinations.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing payment for transactions ata merchant location, the method being implemented by one or moreprocessors of a network service that operates remotely and independentlyfrom the merchant location, the method comprising: (a) initializing acard instrument to be linked to a merchant or merchant location; (b)over a given duration, detecting one or more requests to use the cardinstrument in connection with one or more transactions, each of the oneor more transactions involving a corresponding customer who hasregistered a customer funding account with the network service; (c) foreach of the one or more transactions, funding a merchant account of themerchant or merchant location using the card instrument, includingperforming each of: (i) identifying a funding account which is linked tothe card instrument for at least that transaction; (ii) providingsufficient funds for the transaction in the funding account which islinked to the card instrument; (iii) detecting when the card instrumentis processed by the merchant or at the merchant location to transferfunds from the funding account to a corresponding merchant account; and(d) for each of the one or more transactions, transfer funds from theregistered customer account of the corresponding customer involved inthat transaction to an account associated with the service.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein (d) is performed after and independently of(c).
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the funding accountwhich is linked to the card instrument includes identifying a sharedfunding account for the card instrument.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the shared funding account is also linked and exclusive to themerchant or merchant location.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein theshared funding account is linked to multiple merchants and/or merchantlocations.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the fundingaccount which is linked to the card instrument includes assigning anaccount to the prepaid card just prior to at least one of the one ormore transactions.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein providingsufficient funds for the transaction includes, for each of the one ormore transactions, depositing a preliminary fund amount into the linkedfunding account.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: for eachof the one or more transactions, withdrawing an unused portion of thepreliminary fund amount from the shared funding account after themerchant operator processes the card instrument.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein providing sufficient funds for the transaction includes, foreach of the one or more transactions, checking an amount of the fundingaccount for sufficiency.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein for each oneof the one or more transactions, at least (d) is performed after acustomer of that transaction leaves the merchant location.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: for each of the one or moretransactions, programmatically determining when the customer of thattransaction leaves the merchant location using position information thatis obtained from and/or communicated by a mobile computing device ofthat customer.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the preliminary fundamount is based at least in part on a customer profile and/or a merchantprofile.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the card instrument isrecognized by a payment interface of the merchant location as a prepaiddebit card.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) includes:communicating information about the transaction to the correspondingcustomer after the corresponding customer leaves the merchant location.15. The method of claim 14, wherein communicating information about thetransaction to the corresponding customer includes generating anelectronic receipt of the transaction.
 16. The method of claim 1,wherein (b) includes: receiving a card use request from a mobilecomputing device of the corresponding customer of each of the multipletransactions, the card use request including an identifier of thecorresponding customer.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the card userequest includes a location of the corresponding customer of thetransaction, as determined from the mobile computing device of thecustomer.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the electronic receiptincludes an image of a receipt.
 19. The method of claim 1, whereindetecting when the card instrument is processed includes: accessinginformation provided by a point of sale terminal of the merchant ormerchant location when the card instrument is processed, and confirmingfrom the information that the point of sale terminal is associated withthe merchant or merchant location. 0.20. The method of claim 1, wherein(d) includes: communicating information about the transaction to thecorresponding customer after the corresponding customer leaves themerchant location, the information indicating a preliminary amount ofthe transaction; receiving user authorization for the preliminary amountand a surplus amount; and communicating at least the surplus amount to amobile computing device associated with the merchant location forsubsequent payment processing by a point-of-sale terminal of themerchant.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) includes funding thecard instrument for each of the multiple transactions as a batch processafter the given duration.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumthat stores instructions, which when executed by one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: (a)initializing a card instrument to be linked to a merchant or merchantlocation; (b) over a given duration, detecting one or more requests touse the card instrument in connection with one or more transactions,each of the one or more transactions involving a corresponding customerwho has registered a customer funding account with the network service;(c) for each of the one or more transactions, funding a merchant accountof the merchant or merchant location using the card instrument,including performing each of: (i) identifying a funding account which islinked to the card instrument for at least that transaction; (ii)providing sufficient funds for the transaction in the funding accountwhich is linked to the card instrument; (iii) detecting when the cardinstrument is processed by the merchant or at the merchant location totransfer funds from the funding account to a corresponding merchantaccount; and (d) for each of the one or more transactions, transferfunds from the registered customer account of the corresponding customerinvolved in that transaction to an account associated with the service.22. A computer system comprising: a memory that stores a set ofinstructions; one or more processors which access the set ofinstructions to: (a) initialize a card instrument to be linked to amerchant or merchant location; (b) over a given duration, detect one ormore requests to use the card instrument in connection with one or moretransactions, each of the one or more transactions involving acorresponding customer who has registered a customer funding accountwith the network service; (c) for each of the one or more transactions,fund a merchant account of the merchant or merchant location using thecard instrument, including performing each of: (i) identifying a fundingaccount which is linked to the card instrument for at least thattransaction; (ii) providing sufficient funds for the transaction in thefunding account which is linked to the card instrument; (iii) detectingwhen the card instrument is processed by the merchant or at the merchantlocation to transfer funds from the funding account to a correspondingmerchant account; and (d) for each of the one or more transactions,transfer funds from the registered customer account of the correspondingcustomer involved in that transaction to an account associated with theservice,